There are so, so, so many reasons why the New York Knicks blew Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night. This failure, this epic choke job, cannot be placed upon any one person. It is on virtually everyone.
Especially head coach Tom Thibodeau, who remains married to overusing a collection of starters that's begging and pleading and bellowing at the tops of its lungs for him to stop. He didn't. He won't. And it may wind up costing the Knicks everything.
To be sure, Thibs is not the one who flitted away a 17-point lead inside six-and-a-half minutes to play. He is not the one who allowed Aaron Nesmith to uncork an avalanche of threes late in the fourth quarter. He is not the one who missed crucial free throws. He is not the one who gummed up the offense, again, during the crunchiest of crunch time.
Thibs is, however, the one who oversaw it all—the one who had the power to change something, anything, to deviate from what we know has burned the Knicks in the past. He didn't. At least, he didn't change enough.
This Knicks starting lineup isn't (always) it
“Minutes, schminutes” is Thibodeau’s (unofficial) mantra. People harp on the overuse of key players because it’s easy, and recurring, and also because it’s true. Advocates will insist that Thibs isn’t burning out his guys so much as readying them for the playoff crucible, and for moments like this.
Well, the Knicks just farted this moment away. And in Thibs’ defense, while his starters were gassed by game’s end, this isn’t necessarily a story about fatigue and minutes management. It is a matter of resource allocation.
New York’s starting lineup has been meh for most of this season. In the playoffs, specifically, it has often been way worse. The five-man combo of Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, and Josh Hart has now been outscored by 37 points during its postseason court time. That is an atrocity. When it’s the most-used lineup in the league, it should also be insurmountable.
The Knicks are in the Eastern Conference Finals anyway, because, well, this postseason is drunk, and because Brunson is (usually) one of the clutchest players in existence. There are other reasons, too. The starting lineup, by and large, isn’t one of them.
Despite all of the evidence demanding change, Thibs closed Game 1 with the starters. And so, he lost Game 1 with the starters. That is inexcusable. Especially when alternatives are at his disposal. The dual-big unit of Towns and Mitchell Robinson fared incredibly well, and Deuce McBride helped the Knicks run off a 14-0 run with Brunson on the bench during the fourth quarter.
Tom Thibodeau has changed, but has he changed enough?
This should be a game in which everyone is talking about New York extending its lead without Jalen Brunson, and about how the Knicks look like the real deal, perhaps a team of destiny, a mere three wins away from their first NBA Finals since 1999.
Instead, everyone is left to over-analyze everything. Why did the Knicks look so lost, so incapable, down the stretch? And who’s most culpable?
Blame should be dispersed to (pretty much) the entire team. That was a collective collapse. But the frustration with Thibs will reach a fever pitch, yet again, particularly given how he mishandled his coach’s challenge.
Look, it’s not about a starting-lineup change at this point. And it’s certainly not about benching Jalen Brunson down the stretch. You can’t do that. It’s about futzing with in-game rotations even in crunch time.
There is something special, something valuable, about every member of the starting unit. But the entire season, and the entire postseason, has shown us it is, collectively, less than the sum of its parts. Thibodeau doesn’t seem to realize this. Or he doesn’t care about it.
Either way, he played a role in New York throwing away Game 1. Best-case scenario: This will be a footnote for the series. Worst case: It will be looked back on as the moment that derailed these Knicks—as well as the moment that reminded all of us that for as much as Thibs has changed, he may not have changed enough.
Dan Favale is a Senior NBA Contributor for FanSided and National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.